If you’re looking for ways to upgrade your Jacksonville, FL, home with smart home technology, don’t forget your HVAC. Many homes have HVAC systems that rely on conventional thermostats or programmable ones at best. This means homeowners must think a bit outside the box to integrate their HVAC with their smart home gear. To help you do that, here is your complete guide to today’s smart home HVAC systems and accessories.
Wi-Fi Enabled HVAC Systems
Today, more HVAC manufacturers than ever are beginning to build Wi-Fi connectivity into their products. This is especially common with today’s latest ductless mini-split heat pumps. Many of those systems feature Wi-Fi radios built into each indoor air handler. This allows for native integration with most major smart home platforms. That can allow you to use voice controls to find out and control temperature conditions in individual rooms. Plus, it enables remote control of your home’s HVAC wherever you go.
Smart Thermostats
The simplest way to give your home’s HVAC a modern makeover is a smart thermostat. Installing one is like giving your HVAC an instant feature upgrade. Smart thermostats feature Wi-Fi connectivity and allow for control of your HVAC via a smartphone app. Plus, many feature plug-and-play integration with Amazon’s Alexa, Google Home, and Apple’s HomeKit. As a result, they function as an excellent bridge to the latest smart home gear. That also lets you use voice controls to operate your HVAC.
A smart thermostat will also add other useful features to your home’s HVAC. For example, smart thermostats use AI-powered learning capabilities to adapt to your comfort preferences. They can anticipate when you’ll want the temperature raised and lowered and react accordingly. That can not only improve your comfort but cut your energy bills as well. According to the US Department of Energy, an ENERGYSTAR-approved smart thermostat can save you 8% on energy bills. Data from other smart thermostat manufacturers claim energy savings potential of up to 26%!
You can also integrate smart sensors with certain smart thermostat models. They can expand your HVAC’s ability to sense conditions in your home. Plus, they act as data sources that feed into your smart home system, enabling additional smart devices. Common sensor types include:
Remote Temperature Sensors
Remote temperature sensors give your smart thermostat a more detailed picture of your home’s conditions. You can use them with smart scheduling to emphasize conditions in certain rooms at certain times. For example, you could use one to instruct your HVAC to prioritize the sensor in your bedroom overnight. That can help ensure better sleeping conditions even if your smart thermostat is elsewhere.
Remote sensors can be paired with sound or motion sensors in the house. This allows your HVAC to maintain a temperature for the rooms that you are currently occupying and not just the room where the thermostat is located.
Remote Humidity Sensors
Remote humidity sensors let your smart thermostat know if your HVAC makes your home too dry. It also knows if your HVAC isn’t extracting enough moisture from the air. This is particularly useful if you have a ductless mini-split HVAC system. Many of those have special drying mode that runs an air handler continuously to control indoor humidity. That can help when parts of your home remain damp while others don’t.
Remote Air Quality Sensors
Remote air quality sensors can detect the presence of harmful contaminants in your home’s air. This can let your smart home system know to alert you if one or more rooms become unhealthy. That can let you know to open a window for ventilation or turn on a portable air scrubber.
HVAC Zoning Systems
Smart thermostats also make a perfect complement to an HVAC zoning system. They use motorized ductwork dampers to split your ducted HVAC system into smaller zones. Then you can separately control each zone’s temperature. And since an HVAC zoning system can interoperate with a smart thermostat, it readily integrates into your smart home.
Smart Vents
Smart vents are motorized HVAC vents that you can pair with temperature sensors and your smart home system. You can use them to exert far more precise control over the temperature inside your home. Using them, for example, you can set temperature limits for rooms that tend to get too much hot or cold air. When the room reaches your preset temperature limit, the smart vent closes. Then, it reopens when temperatures warrant it. Using smart vents is like installing an HVAC zoning system but with far more customizability.
Smart Air Purifiers
If you install a smart thermostat with advanced remote sensors, they may be capable of measuring air quality. Then, you can install smart air purifiers in strategic spots, like your bedroom or living room. Those air purifiers can tap into the data provided by your remote sensors via your smart home system. And when those sensors detect high levels of pollutants, they can turn the air purifiers on. When those pollutants abate, the sensors can tell the air purifiers to turn off.
Smart Humidifiers and Dehumidifiers
Here in Jacksonville, high humidity is practically a way of life. And that can impact your indoor comfort just as much as heat can. The good news is that you can deploy some smart dehumidifiers to help. They can also draw data from your smart thermostat’s sensors to operate whenever necessary. The same is also true of smart humidifiers. You can use one to boost your home’s humidity in specific places. For example, if the constant use of your AC dries out your bedroom too much, a smart humidifier could help. It, too, would use the data from your smart thermostat’s sensors to know when to turn on and off.
Smart Ceiling Fans
Another smart addition you can make to your home’s climate control system is smart ceiling fans. They connect seamlessly to most smart home platforms and offer an efficient option when HVAC is overkill. They, too, can integrate with your smart thermostat’s temperature sensors to operate autonomously. You can also turn them on and off using your smart speaker. Plus, many allow for remote speed and direction control as well.
Your Local Smart HVAC Experts
If you want to integrate your Jacksonville home’s HVAC with your smart home devices, J&W Heating and Air + Plumbing can help. We sell and install the latest in smart HVAC equipment, smart thermostats and their related accessories. Our HVAC experts can work with you to design the perfect smart HVAC system for your needs and budget. Plus, we install HVAC zoning systems, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, and indoor air quality solutions. We also handle plumbing work, too, should you need any performed. As a local fixture since 1966, you won’t find a more trustworthy HVAC partner anywhere. We’re Better Business Bureau accredited with an A+ rating, so you know we stand behind our work. So, for the latest smart home HVAC solutions in Jacksonville, call J&W Heating and Air + Plumbing today!
